Chinese

This course teaches basic Chinese vocabulary used in a business environment. The class is limited to students who are capable of more than 1500 Chinese vocabulary or have taken Chinese classes for more than 800 hours (which equals to finishing the textbook Practical Audio-Visual Chinese II). The textbook used for this class is Far East Business Chinese (L.1~7). This class is taught only in Chinese.

This course aims at enhancing students’ communicative competence, specifically targeting at speaking, reading and writing.  Students will be exposed to Chinese society and culture through a greater variety of topical discussions and different audiovisual media include films (movies), television, and Vlog.

This course may only be taken in conjunction with the Beginning Cantonese course (CLCC1113) An elementary course with a focus on fluency in basic vocabulary and grammar points through various kinds of speaking practice. Real life settings are introduced such as shopping, introducing family members, asking directions etc. Assessment: student performance (25%), quizzes (50%), and final exam (25%).

This is an elementary Cantonese course designed to familiarize students with the use of Romanization, basic vocabulary, and grammar points. Vocabulary is introduced based on everyday conversations and daily usage with a focus on appropriateness in application. Assessment: student performance (25%), quizzes (50%), and final exam (25%).

The lectures are organized as introductions to the history and culture of ancient and modern Chinese dialects: geographical distribution, common ancestors of distinct linguistic systems and their relationships, ancient breakdown of major dialect groups, modern Chinese dialects and their characters (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation), and finally touching on current cultural issues. Assessment: final exam and a final group presentation.

This is an advanced Chinese language class focusing on developing strong literary skills (both reading and writing). The class is based on a variety of topics selected from articles in various Chinese magazines. Those articles are analyzed and discussed during class, with particular attention given to style, effective use of language, and argumentation. Homework and assignments always involved writing responsive essays to the main article and frequently included individual research on news stories related to the weekly topic in order to develop more compelling arguments.